Friday, December 16, 2011

Even before I started blogging, I'm already a fan of some travel blogs and my favorite part of their blogs are those bongga festivals they were able to witness. I actually tried to book a flight to Cebu for Sinulog Festival early next year, but failed! Better luck next time. :) And I realized, we have this Luglugan Festival in Malabon, I don't need to go to other places and spend a lot.

It is now the 8th year of the said festival which is a project of Congresswoman Jaye Lacson-Noel and is yearly organized by Malabon M. E.T.R.O (Medical Emergency Transport and Rescue Organization) headed by Jojo Flores and overall organizer this year si Jonjon Santos.

Year 2009, Luglugan Festival was recognized as the Best Tourism Event for food category of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP)

Drums and Lyre c/o Councilor Ian Borja

Valenzuela Marching band c/o Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian

Higantes from Angono, Rizal

Selected students of Malabon National High School

And of course, the highlight of the event is the giant Pancit Bilao measuring 15 feet in diameter, divided into 4 triangular trays, with almost 90 kilos of noodles. Four different Pancit-makers in Malabon were given each tray to fill in.

A tray was given to my grandmother. She has been doing this for the festival for a few years already.

(c) Jay-jay Cruz

(c) Jay-jay Cruz

(c) Jay-jay Cruz

Good thing my cousin took some photos because I was in somewhere :)

The view of the giant bilao before the parade started. Succeeded in trying to catch the truck with the giant bilao. Checked! 4 tray completed.

We took a bus from Davao City which brought us to Samal. Also had a 15 to 20 minutes ride on a barge to make it across the Davao Gulf. As you can see in the map, super lapit lang naman! A relative picked us up at the public market of Samal. It was a kinda long travel on a rough road to the resort. They said it was about 9km.

Macho ko dito! Haha. I have no choice but to use this as my, pang-swimming. Wala na akong damit dahil naiwan ko sa bahay! Fail!

We had an overnight stay at Villa Amparo. The next day, mom's siblings and my cousins picked us up at Villa Amparo for a continuation of our Samal Island trip.

MONFORT BAT CAVE

Tambo, Brgy. Babak

Found also in IGaCos is the largest bat colony of fruit bats in the world! In 2008, Guinness World Records representatives estimated that the bats inside were about 1.8 million! Because of this number, they were recognized by the Guinness World Records as the largest colony of Geoffroy's Rousette Fruit Bats! The time we visited it, the number of bats inside is 2.5million!

At 6pm, everyday, the bats go out of the cave to look for food. Usually they go to Davao and Bukidnon for fruits. They fly about 45km/hr and they return to the cave at dawn.

Certificate from Guinness World Records

Near the cave is this exhibit on different bats.

As expected, medyo iba yung amoy. In short, mabaho sila! Hihi.

This little kid is our tour guide. :)

HAGIMIT FALLS

Brgy. Cawag, Peñaplata

A long trek on the concrete stairway down to the falls welcomed us! While we're on our way down, I'm already thinking about how am I going to trek up. Haha!

We didn't dip into the falls immediately. My aunt suggested for us to go to another part of the falls where the water on the above picture is coming from. Again, trekking up is required! A minimal entrance fee is ask if you will go there. The water is cold! Really! And the current is stronger compare to the other part of the falls.

Based on what we've observed, the wall behind us is where the water is really coming from. There is a hole beneath the wall!